What We Wanted

The man in the white tunic didn’t have the answer.
In the wilderness we dreamed of finding it.
The girl feeding pigeons did not have it.
The fortune-teller didn’t have the answer.
The dooms-day rider didn’t have it.
The trusted men opening the seal didn’t find the answer.
We probably blew our trumpets all around it.
The artist painted herself holding a mirror.
She tried to find it in her pose--deflected.
The keepers of the dark didn’t have it.
The unknown man didn’t have the answer.
Attendees at the feast didn’t have it.
The revolutionary didn’t find it in bloodshed.
The birth of Venus offered no clue to it.
It was not in the mocking bird’s crazy song.
The people on the dance floor couldn’t find it.
The three women at the gate were clueless.
Even their flirty smiles didn’t help.
Medusa with a head full of snakes didn’t have the answer!
Yet poppies went on blooming, blooming, blooming.
In lilac season the sweet-smelling earth filled the ar.
Marigolds spreading across the land!
In Australia the great myrtles were standing tall.
In western China the cherry trees were blooming.
With its scaly bark the white oak of Quebec sparkled.
Junipers, silver furs, beech and lime had their turn.
The camellias of the evergreen were glowing red in sunlight.
We praised forget-me-nots in upper windows!
The lilies and the larkspur were blooming wild!
And we praised the persimmon trees with their possum wood!